Homebrew Unofficial 3DS RetroArch builds

[JohnGood]

Every time that happened to me, I would erase the configuration files and re-do them again, 90% of the times fixes some crashes.

Anytime I disable the Threaded Rendering it stops crashing. I have tested it at least 10 times, the setting involved in the error does not make any doubt. I would be more than happy if someone else wanted to try enabling the setting though!

So, to sum things up, FF9 on O3DS runs at 22fps with those settings? with sound? how's the overall experience, playable? graphical glitches?

Not playable. 20 FPS is not enough to have a pleasant gaming experience on FFIX and the sound is working but laggy because of the low FPS. I saved the game after the first Moogle is available so I did not do any extensive stability test. So far it ran the cinematics and everything worked well, except for the low framerate.

It is possible that the bug of Threaded Rendering is only software specific and could be fixed. Then, maybe, the old 3DS would be able to perform better.

I opened a ticket on the github of libretro/pcsx_rearmed.

Don't get your hopes up, it's unlikely the old 3DS will ever be a good candidate for PSX emulation. Anyway if some people want to give it a try and investigate those bugs I would be happy to help.

 

[justinweiss]

I’m not too surprised it crashes — I think I ran into something like that a while ago. It was something like the main core of the 3ds will only allow a certain number of threads to run at once. Since CD Access Async is also threaded, it makes sense that would crash too.

Even if it could run, I don’t think it would make much of a difference — the benefit of threaded rendering is that you can render video and process emulation at the same time, using both cores of the New 3DS. On the Old 3DS, I think the video thread and the main thread would just compete and slow things down.

One thing that could help is if someone ported the auto-frameskip from snes9x / gpsp / etc. to pcsx. I don’t think it would be too hard, might make it playable, and would help with the sound skips (which is the most annoying part of running less than full speed)

 

[UltraSyko]

OH THANK GOD I WAS ABOUT TO POST THIS ON GITHUB ISSUES. IM SO GLAD IM NOT THE ONLY ONE.
I have a bunch of CHDs that worked in late 2020 - early 2021 stable builds. I can confirm the 3ds core is faulty atm. It doesn't crash on the same core on PC or Duckstation. I tried with both clean default settings and custom settings after deleting old cfg. These aren't normal "crash on boot" issues but a minute or less in the game. All of these are 100% reproduceable crashes
Pepsiman: Opening FMV works fine; Crashes at title screen
Advanced V.G.: Opening company logos work; crashes loading title screen
In the Hunt: logo credits, title, short radar cutscene works; crashes the moment you start the level.
Gundam Battle Assault: logo credits, title, memory card saving, menus character select, mech select, and cutscenes work; crashes the moment you start the fight
Again, these same copies worked perfectly fine before.

 

[JohnGood]

Sorry UltraSyko but this has nothing to do with my message. You probably have an invalid setting in your configuration, try deleting it.

My post is about the Threaded Rendering option crashing PCSX when enabled on old 3DS.

 

[UltraSyko]

Sorry UltraSyko but this has nothing to do with my message. You probably have an invalid setting in your configuration, try deleting it.

My post is about the Threaded Rendering option crashing PCSX when enabled on old 3DS.

Oh my bad. I meant to reply to Dartz150's post. Not directed to you.

 

[DSoryu]

Pepsiman: Opening FMV works fine; Crashes at title screen
Advanced V.G.: Opening company logos work; crashes loading title screen

Yes, I'm having this exact issue.

Also, dows someone know who is adding support to the Snes9x cores? I watn to ask for msu1 support if possible.

 

[MarioKartFan]

SNES9X core performance is quite poor even on New3DS. There has been very little development recently. @justinweiss had added a few features over the past year. Hard to imagine msu-1 support ever materializes.

 

[JohnGood]

I’m not too surprised it crashes — I think I ran into something like that a while ago. It was something like the main core of the 3ds will only allow a certain number of threads to run at once. Since CD Access Async is also threaded, it makes sense that would crash too.

I tried running this example with 200 threads and it worked fine.

github dot com /devkitPro/3ds-examples/blob/master/threads/thread-basic/source/main.c

I see the Old 3DS ARM11 has 2 core but the New 3DS has 4 core. Why do you think using threads for the render won't benefit the Old 3DS is only one core truly available for PCSX?

 

[justinweiss]

I tried running this example with 200 threads and it worked fine.

github dot com /devkitPro/3ds-examples/blob/master/threads/thread-basic/source/main.c

I see the Old 3DS ARM11 has 2 core but the New 3DS has 4 core. Why do you think using threads for the render won't benefit the Old 3DS is only one core truly available for PCSX?

If I remember correctly, core 2 is mostly reserved for the system, but user apps can create a single thread on it. When I tried using the system core for the rendering thread on New 3DS (so I could have 3 cores running code), it seemed to compete with the kernel for time and slowed everything down, no matter how I adjusted the priority or time limit.

https://www.3dbrew.org/wiki/Multi-threading#CreateThread and https://libctru.devkitpro.org/thread_8h.html#a38c873d8cb02de7f5eca848fe68183ee are good resources if you want to give it another try.

 

[MarioKartFan]

@justinweiss Good to see you still on the board. What do we need to do to get you tweaking PCSX Rearmed again? It’s so fricking close to perfect.

 

[UltraSyko]

@justinweiss Good to see you still on the board. What do we need to do to get you tweaking PCSX Rearmed again? It’s so fricking close to perfect.

I wouldn't say perfect. It's been crashing for a handful of games since 1.9.3
[New 3DS 1.9.7 Stable] Some games crashing since 1.9.3 · Issue #534 · libretro/pcsx_rearmed (github.com)

 

[MarioKartFan]

I didn’t say perfect.

 

[DSoryu]

SNES9X core performance is quite poor even on New3DS. There has been very little development recently. @justinweiss had added a few features over the past year. Hard to imagine msu-1 support ever materializes.

Is not that bad the last time I tried, I even got to fully play super Mario RPG with near to zero issues (being the only "issues" some lag on the intro and "cutscenes").

I asked since there is a GenesisPlusGX core that adds widescreen hack support to Genesis games, but I do comprehend that the SNES is a completely different league, so maybe it couldn't be doine without serious optimizations first.

 

[placebo_yue]

GenesisPlusGX core that adds widescreen hack support to Genesis games

that's been ported to 3DS?

 

[DSoryu]

that's been ported to 3DS?

Yes, some months ago actually, I have been using it as the main core for Genesis games, and works pretty well, at first is a bit tricky to configure the overscan offsets but once you get used it looks great.

 

[placebo_yue]

Yes, some months ago actually, I have been using it as the main core for Genesis games, and works pretty well, at first is a bit tricky to configure the overscan offsets but once you get used it looks great.

Where can i find it? I googled "genesis plus GX wide 3ds" and only found the wii and gamecube release on github, and some other stuff about the regular non-wide core. Sorry about asking to be spoonfed but this thread is fairly big and you said "months ago"

 

[DSoryu]

Where can i find it? I googled "genesis plus GX wide 3ds" and only found the wii and gamecube release on github, and some other stuff about the regular non-wide core. Sorry about asking to be spoonfed but this thread is fairly big and you said "months ago"

Just download the latest nigthly build from the official buildbot site, the core should be available there.

 

[placebo_yue]

Just download the latest nigthly build from the official buildbot site, the core should be available there.

found it, installed the .cia but when i select the content, it doesn't show the core to start playing, could it be that it needs a different file type? the regular core works correctly, but not the wide version

 

[Kcacc]

found it, installed the .cia but when i select the content, it doesn't show the core to start playing, could it be that it needs a different file type? the regular core works correctly, but not the wide version

The cia needs to be in the cores folder of your retroarch directory as well as being installed.

Yes, some months ago actually, I have been using it as the main core for Genesis games, and works pretty well, at first is a bit tricky to configure the overscan offsets but once you get used it looks great.

How exactly to you accomplish this, if you don't mind explaining? No matter what I do, I get nasty rendering artifacts from the additional scanlines.

 

[placebo_yue]

The cia needs to be in the cores folder of your retroarch directory as well as being installed.

Strange since i've been using all the other cores this way, only installing. Maybe i copied those and forgot about it? i'll check

edit: tried it, the core now shows on "select core" but when selecting the content, the "suggested cores" still say "no cores available" therefore i can't load the content, nor play.